STAND. COM. REP. NO. 535-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2044

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2044 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OFFENDER REENTRY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to expand programming and training for the comprehensive offender reentry program under the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reduce the rate of recidivism and increase inmate marketability.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission; Office of the Public Defender; University of Hawaiʻi System; Touch a Heart; Community Alliance on Prisons; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Hina Mauka; Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Kapalama Neighborhood Security Watch.

Your Committee finds that prison populations have increased significantly since the 1980s, with Hawaii experiencing an eight hundred seventy percent increase in prison populations between 1980 and 2018, and that this increase has had a disproportionate impact on Native Hawaiians, who make up forty percent of the prison population. Additionally, recent studies show that nearly fifty-four percent of criminals in Hawaii are repeat offenders. Your Committee further finds that offering extensive and high-quality educational and vocational programs to inmates is effective in reducing rates of recidivism and leads to higher rates of employment after release. This measure seeks to address the State's high rates of recidivism by expanding inmate access to job training, educational programming, and structure reentry services.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2044, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2044, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair